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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29383266">strays</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_piggy/pseuds/green_piggy'>green_piggy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>bond writes for xbc femslash week 2021 [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Xenoblade Chronicles X</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cats, Dogs, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, you ever just accidentally host an animal sanctuary</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:21:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,158</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29383266</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_piggy/pseuds/green_piggy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Irina brings back yet another cat from her latest mission. Sharon doesn't mind - <i>really</i> - but having seventeen pets is... a lot.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Irina Akulov/Murderess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>bond writes for xbc femslash week 2021 [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149800</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Xenoblade Femslash Week 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>strays</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>day 5's prompt of "cats and dogs!" featuring the original xenoblade lesbians! i always seem to come back to writing for these two, one way or another</p>
<p>thank you to everyone on twitter for the various terrible names. i love them all</p>
<p>hope you enjoy~</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was storming in New LA when Irina arrived back from her latest mission. Her fringe clung to her forehead, her entire body shivering and trembling, jacket draped over the important bundle in her arms that she held tight against her chest. Even that warmth wasn’t enough to completely dispel the nerves churning in her stomach. She knew that Sharon wasn’t going to be best pleased but she — well. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thunder zipped across the horizon as Irina’s boots thudded against the pavement. She would turn in a report tomorrow morning. Eleanora could wait until the morning, surely.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her hand slipped off the door handle the first time she grasped for it. On her second attempt, though, she managed to grip it before nudging it open.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m home,” she called. Saying those two words always made her heart do a strange flip. It wasn’t a place she thought she could ever have again. Not after her mother, not after Leon…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It, truthfully, still wasn’t something that she felt she deserved. Not when she had failed so many people.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the person that she was sharing her life with — the woman that she had once seen as a sworn enemy, as someone she could never be able to understand — helped to make that a little easier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sitting at the kitchen, flicking through a magazine, Sharon glanced up with a warm smile. It was a face so kind that, just a few years ago, Irina would have scoffed and socked anyone who suggested that Sharon was capable of such kindness towards anyone, much less </span>
  <em>
    <span>her.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Welcome home,” she replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The thing in Irina’s arms shuffled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sharon scowled. “Irina, I swear to God, that better not be </span>
  <em>
    <span>another—”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Meow,” went the bundle in Irina’s arms.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Later that evening, when they had dried and gently washed the cat and were now feeding all seventeen of their pets, Sharon stood up with two empty cat bowls in her hands, hair askew and the sleeve of her tank top slipping off her shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We have,” she began, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“so </span>
  </em>
  <span>many cats.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, we don’t,” Irina said, right before she stumbled over three cats that had attached themselves to her ankles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sharon scoffed — only for Pepe, their very first cat, to snake up her arm and perch on her shoulder with a bellowing meow that sounded more like a groaning machine. It </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> have a mim body, the same as them, but…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well. Irina was overthinking things yet again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(For the record, the cat had been named by Nagi. Neither of them had even been </span>
  <em>
    <span>born </span>
  </em>
  <span>in that era.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And before you say anything — we have way too many dogs as well.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Irina followed her girlfriend’s gaze out to the small pool — she still couldn’t get over that, having an entire </span>
  <em>
    <span>pool </span>
  </em>
  <span>in their garden — where several of their beloved dogs were gleefully splashing about. Pawzinator, in particular, was bobbing along from one end to the other, as happy as a dog could be.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“…We don’t have </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>many.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sharon tilted her head back and let out a long groan that echoed through the silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look. I get it.” Sharon dug her fingers into the bottom of the cat food bag and scraped out a few tiny chunks. Only a handful clattered to the bowl, for Pepe munched most of them in mid-air before they could even touch the ground. “You have a compulsive obsession with homing as many pets as possible because you desperately miss your own family—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Irina’s mouth fell open. She shut it just as quickly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“—and it makes you less suicidal, which is great, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really—”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sharon’s flat look silenced her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“—but we can’t afford any more. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Really.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Sharon crossed her arms and kicked her feet on the table with a heavy sigh. “I have a family name to resurrect, and I am </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>reviving it as a pet shelter.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why not? Effinger and Akulov Sanctuary has a ring to it,” Irina teased.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“No it does not.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Irina, sweetheart.” Sharon’s boots thudded against the tiled kitchen flooring as she turned to face Irina. “The neighbours complain that the dogs wake them up. The house </span>
  <em>
    <span>stinks. </span>
  </em>
  <span>I never want to smell wet dog again. I have to scope up at least seven cat shits daily.” She sighed, her shoulders sagging. “It’s a load of bullshit, I’m telling ya. Their bodies aren’t even real. Why the hell do they need food and water and poop and all of that stuff?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Irina raised her eyebrows and crossed her own arms, mirroring her girlfriend’s posture. “So we’re not ‘real’ either, huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not—” Sharon blew out a long sigh through her nose. “—we are </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>having a philosophical discussion about the meaning of our mim bodies.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was at that exact moment that Horse, lovingly named for her tendency to make bizarre neigh noises instead of barking, vomited all over the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, though, after they managed to put the pets to sleep (well, most of them — Germ, named because he never stopped licking anything and everything out of the trash cans, never seemed to sleep at all), Irina and Sharon retired to their bed early. Save for the sounds of the occasional vehicle driving past, or drunken laughter from people stumbling down the street, all was quiet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Irina had her eyes shut, her fingers idly rubbing underneath Hotdog’s purring chin, when she heard Sharon sigh. She rolled onto her side, their shared quilt shuffling, before she propped herself up on her elbow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was such a domestic scene, that, for a moment, Irina could imagine that they were back on Earth again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But her brother was…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t actually mind lookin’ after them, y’know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know,” Irina said. Hotdog, the kitten that Irina had brought back today, lifted her head with a confused purr when Irina’s hand left to rest underneath her chin. For some reason, she couldn’t quite bring herself to look at her girlfriend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Really. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It’s just…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Here was the ‘but’. Irina sighed. “Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I worry about you, y’know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Irina’s chest squeezed tight, and it had nothing to do with Hotdog’s impressive weight. She wanted to close her eyes and roll over and insist that there was nothing to worry about. But she knew that being this open was just as difficult for Sharon as it was for her, so…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. I know.” Even the words felt like a confession. Irina stared up at the ceiling. “I worry about you too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A snort. “I should hope so. We </span>
  <em>
    <span>are </span>
  </em>
  <span>together, after all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Irina jolted when a hand rested over her free one, but she didn’t resist or tug away when Sharon curled her fingers against hers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good night,” Sharon murmured, voice sleepy. “Love you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Smiling, chest warming, Irina closed her eyes and felt the first ebbs of unconsciousness grasp her. The sound of her girlfriend breathing and the pets snoozing around them was better than heaven.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Love you too.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>[ <a href="https://twitter.com/greenpiggles">twitter</a> ]</p>
<p>[gently breakdances]</p></blockquote></div></div>
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